The explosion in illegal copying is affecting the entire music community. And contrary to what some people may tell you, it’s having a very real and harmful impact on countless musicians, songwriters, and performers -- virtually everyone, from recording engineers to record-store clerks, who dreams about making a living providing music to the public.

Stealing Music is Against the Law

For centuries, civilized societies have granted artists, authors, and other creative people the right to own and control the original work they produce, be they paintings, poems, songs, dances, or any other form of literary or artistic expression. These rights are protected by what is known as copyright.

In the United States, copyright protection is guaranteed under the Constitution as well as the Copyright Act. Recorded music is specifically protected by these laws, which means it is against the law to make unauthorized reproductions, distributions, or digital transmissions of copyrighted sound recordings.

Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, rental or digital transmission of copyrighted sound recordings. (Title 17, United States Code, Sections 501 and 506). The FBI investigates allegations of criminal copyright infringement and violators will be prosecuted.  First-time offenders face criminal penalties of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Your Computer and Privacy are at Risk

Even more shocking is the fact some illicit "peer to peer" (P2P) networks, such as Kazaa, actually commandeer a portion of the hard drive on your computer for illegal downloading and uploading by network members around the world. Once you register with them, all the files on your computer hard drive can be fair game. Depending on the settings you choose, peer-to-peer users can explore your computer to find private financial information; confidential, personal and professional data; and other sensitive documents.

It works like this: When a computer user signs up to become a member of one of these so-called "peer-to-peer" networks, they designate a special file and a certain amount of hard-drive capacity that can be accessed by any other member of the network. That means anybody anywhere in the world can access the computer in your home and make illegal unauthorized copies of the music and anything else contained in that location.

If you or your child is involved in peer-to-peer file sharing, you may be using KaZaA software, GTK-Gnutella, LimeWire or some similar application. You may not be aware of it, but when you registered as a P2P software user, you probably agreed to let the network use your computer as a distribution source of music files. In other words, if you’re like most P2P software users, you do more than simply download files. You probably also make files on your hard drive available for others to upload. Not only does this make you a potential illegal distributor, it also means that whenever you’re online, every other network user around the world (and there are tens of millions of them) has the ability to access your hard drive.

You're Not as 'Safe' as You Might Think

If you want to do the right thing -- and keep strangers out of your hard drive -- you should disable your P2P software’s uploading capability, but even that has limitations.

If you’re a KaZaA user, the software you installed on your hard drive has a default setting that allows your computer to be commandeered by the KaZaA system and used as what they call a "SuperNode" without your knowing it. A SuperNode is a computer that routes traffic around the network -- which means that KaZaA can drain away your computing power and your bandwidth without any warning whenever it pleases. Many Gnutella programs have a similar function they call "Super-Peers."  With some programs, such as BearShare, it's not even possible to completely disable the file sharing, according to The University of Chicago's Network Security Group.

Paying Doesn't Make it Legal

Don't kid yourself into believing that the fact that you paid a "membership fee" or "subscription fee" makes it legal.  It doesn't.  Only the legal copyright holders can duplicate and distribute music.  Charging a fee for the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials simply makes the offense worse.  Click here for a list of sites where you can download music legally.

Do The Crime, Do The Time

If you make digital copies of copyrighted music on your computer available to anyone through the Internet without the permission of the copyright holder, you’re stealing. And if you allow a P2P file-sharing network to use part of your computer’s hard drive to store copyrighted recordings that anyone can access and download, you’re on the wrong side of the law.  If you do not have legal permission, and you go ahead and copy or distribute copyrighted music anyway, you can be prosecuted in criminal court and/or sued for damages in civil court.

• Criminal penalties for first-time offenders can be as high as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
   
• Civil penalties can run into many thousands of dollars in damages and legal fees. The minimum penalty is $750 per song.

Parents Face Legal Exposure for the Actions of Minors

Stealing music on the Internet is every bit as wrong as stealing goods from a store. Yes, it’s against the law. And, yes, offenders can be prosecuted in criminal court and sued for damages in civil court.

But what if the offender is a minor? Well, for one thing, that doesn’t make the activity any less a crime. For another, it may subject the offender’s parents or guardians to legal action.

"Most parents would be horrified if they walked into a child's room and found 100 stolen CDs.  However, these same parents think nothing of having their children spend time online downloading hundreds of songs without paying a dime." -- John Malcolm, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, August 19,2002, (CNETnews.com)

The fact is that civil liability can extend to the parents of under-age offenders, even if they were unaware that their child had been stealing. It’s a chilling thought. While you’re downstairs watching TV, thinking your teenager is upstairs studying, he or she could be doing something illegal that could land you in court.

Remember, the Internet is a tremendous learning tool that represents a great technological advance for society. But right now, it’s a lot like the Wild West. Everyone, from the most seemingly innocent teens to the hardest of hardened criminals, is out there surfing cyberspace with very few rules to maintain order.

If you haven’t been paying much attention to what your children are doing on their -- or your -- home computer, it’s probably time to get involved in a sensible and supportive way.

If you haven’t already done so, you probably should consider discussing with your children where they go and what they do on the Internet.